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Mexico fumes at 'hostile' Trump immigration rules as U.S. talks loom

While White House spokesman Sean Spicer described US-Mexico relations as "phenomenal," the Mexico Foreign Secretary said his government "do[es] not have to accept provisions that one government unilaterally wants to impose on the other."

Carlos Jasso/Reuters

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson arrives in Mexico City, Mexico February 22, 2017.

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February 22, 2017

By Alexandra Alper and Anahi RamaReuters

MEXICO CITY

Mexico reacted with anger on Wednesday to what one official called "hostile" new U.S. immigration guidelines as senior Trump administration envoys began arriving in Mexico City for talks on the volatile issue.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security unveiled plans on Tuesday to consider almost all illegal immigrants subject to deportation, and will seek to send many of them to Mexico if they entered the United States from there, regardless of nationality.

The tension over the timing of the rules mirrors an outcry when President Donald Trump tweeted that Mexico should pay for his planned border wall shortly before Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto was due at a Washington summit in January.

Mr. Trump, who took office last month, campaigned on a pledge to get tougher on the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants in the United States, playing on fears of violent crime while promising to build the wall and stop potential terrorists from entering the country.

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson landed in Mexico City on Wednesday afternoon. He was due to be joined by Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly later for talks the White House said would "walk through" the implementation of Trump's immigration orders.

Mexico's lead negotiator with the Trump administration, Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray, said there was no way Mexico would accept the new rules, which among other things seek to deport non-Mexicans to Mexico.

"I want to say clearly and emphatically that the government of Mexico and the Mexican people do not have to accept provisions that one government unilaterally wants to impose on the other," he told reporters at the Foreign Ministry.

He said the issue would dominate the talks, taking place on Wednesday and Thursday. Mexico will insist that the United States proves the nationality of any person it wants to deport to Mexico, he said.

"We also have control of our borders and we will exercise it fully," he said.

Roberto Campa, who heads the human rights department of the Interior Ministry, said the plan to deport non-Mexicans to Mexico was "hostile" and "unacceptable."

'PHENOMENAL' RELATIONSHIP

White House spokesman Sean Spicer described U.S.-Mexico ties as healthy and robust and said he expected a "great discussion."

Mexico's agenda at the talks on Thursday includes border infrastructure, deportation strategies, Central American migration, narcotics, arms trafficking and terrorism, and the North American Free Trade Agreement, a senior official with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters.